Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.189 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Agni, the divine fire, messenger between mortals and gods, the eternal priest of the sacred rite. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books. The ṛṣi (seer) to whom this hymn is attributed and its precise liturgical context are recorded in the traditional Śākalya Anukramaṇī.
The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas and one of the oldest surviving religious texts in the world, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Indus-Sarasvatī region. Its hymns were preserved through oral transmission across millennia before being committed to writing. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
Guard us, O Agni! Guard us through the long night! The darkness hath come, and with it come the terrors that prowl abroad. The creatures of the shadow stir. The spirits of ill-will walk the earth. The thieves and the malefactors make ready to strike. And so we turn to thee, O Fire, keeper of the sacred flame, guardian of home and hearth.
Thou art the bulwark against all evil. Thy light doth banish darkness. Thy heat doth drive back the cold. Where thou burnest bright, no evil spirit can approach. No thief can creep upon us unobserved. No sorcerer can cast his curses. Thy very presence is a shield, thy flame a sword against all wickedness.
Through the night, burn bright, O Agni! Do not allow thy flame to diminish. Do not let the shadows encroach. Watch over us as we sleep. Guard our homes. Guard our cattle. Guard our children. Let no harm come near us. Let no malice find purchase in this place.
We have tended thee well, O Fire. We have given thee fuel and ghee. We have spoken thy praises. We have made our offerings. And so we ask — nay, we demand — thy protection in return. This is the ancient covenant between man and fire. This is the bond that holdeth since days of old.
When dawn breaks and the sun riseth, we shall be grateful. But until that blessed moment comes, stand guard! Keep vigil! Let thy flames dance and leap, that all may know that thou art here, that thou art watching, that thou art mighty and undefeated. And no evil shall pass thy threshold. No darkness shall overcome thy light. We rest secure under thy protection, O Agni, guardian of the faithful!
Colophon
Rigveda I.189 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, the version that has been transmitted and is considered canonical in the mainstream tradition. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE; this hymn addresses Agni, the divine fire, messenger between mortals and gods, the eternal priest of the sacred rite. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation session to be documented during Kshatriya Blood Rule audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ṛgveda I.189
agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān |
yuyodhy a1smaj juhurāṇam eno bhūyiṣṭhāṁ te namaüktiṁ vidhema || 1 ||
agne tvam pārayā navyo asmān svastibhir ati durgāṇi viśvā |
pūś ca pṛthvī bahulā na urvī bhavā tokāya tanayāya śaṁ yoḥ || 2 ||
agne tvam asmad yuyodhy amīvā anagnitrā abhy amanta kṛṣṭīḥ |
punar asmabhyaṁ suvitāya deva kṣāṁ viśvebhir amṛtebhir yajatra || 3 ||
pāhi no agne pāyubhir ajasrair uta priye sadana ā śuśukvān |
mā te bhayaṁ jaritāraṁ yaviṣṭha nūnaṁ vidan māparaṁ sahasvaḥ || 4 ||
mā no agne 'va sṛjo aghāyāviṣyave ripave ducchunāyai |
mā datvate daśate mādate no mā rīṣate sahasāvan parā dāḥ || 5 ||
vi gha tvāvām̐ ṛtajāta yaṁsad gṛṇāno agne tanve3 varūtham |
viśvād ririkṣor uta vā ninitsor abhihrutām asi hi deva viṣpaṭ || 6 ||
tvaṁ tām̐ agna ubhayān vi vidvān veṣi prapitve manuṣo yajatra |
abhipitve manave śāsyo bhūr marmṛjenya uśigbhir nākraḥ || 7 ||
avocāma nivacanāny asmin mānasya sūnuḥ sahasāne agnau |
vayaṁ sahasram ṛṣibhiḥ sanema vidyāmeṣaṁ vṛjanaṁ jīradānum || 8 ||
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Rigveda, Śākala recension. The standard scholarly edition is the Bombay Oriental (Vishva Bandhu, 5 vols., 1963–66). IAST transliteration available from GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) and Vedaweb (University of Cologne). Both sources are open access. IAST transliteration from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
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